SATURDAY SURVEY

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Over the past 2 weeks, multiple articles and radio shows have gone public with their analyses of the Tigers’ rebuild.  All of them have been critical of the process and the GM in charge of it.

Topics addressed included the lack of progress in prospect development, questionable roster building and poor choices in the signing of free agents.

Despite ownership spending almost half a billion dollars in added payroll just this year, the Tigers are having a worse season and on pace to lose 100 games again.  The team is in their (official) 6th year of rebuilding.

We must acknowledge that the team has experienced significant injuries which has played a part in their poor performance.  However, more than half of the current lineup has been significantly under-performing to the point where the team is on a pace to score the fewest runs in their entire history dating back to 1901.

On the other hand, we should also note that rebuilding is not a short process but can take years, depending upon the owner, GM and available resources.

And considering, that just hours ago, Chris Ilitch gave his “all is well” speech about the Tigers. We will save that event, as well as all conversations about the owner, for discussion on Tuesday.

Where do you see this rebuild heading?  Are the Tigers actually progressing towards becoming competitive or have they stalled?

And what about their GM, Al Avila?  Is he the right person to be in charge of the rebuilding process?

That is today’s question and poll.

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13 thoughts on “SATURDAY SURVEY”

  1. There likely will be a restart on the rebuild. Ominously, there were 22 years between the 1984 World Series championship and the 2006 unexpected (and abysmal) World Series appearance. Consistent with decades of Tigers’ history of long periods of losing with too brief interludes of competitiveness, the last (even more abysmal) World Series appearance in 2012 may foretell a return in 2034 – a lot of patience may prove too exhausting.

    Liked by 4 people

    • Don, at age 81 I can’t get too worked up about 2034 although I’ll admit you may be correct. My own hope is we can compete in the playoffs within 3 years and I think we will have to do it with Al as GM since I do not see CI replacing him anytime soon.

      Liked by 4 people

      • Tony, I am 72 and I want to agree with your hope that within 3 years they will be competitive and I think you are right that CI will retain Al. The problem is that for 6 years now the team seems to be nothing but a collection of players with mediocre talent so that they complete the 162 game season. There appears to be too little to build with, but maybe there will be a surprise like in 2006.

        Liked by 3 people

  2. The failed Tiger tank really stands out locally. Though the local writers have cheered on all four determined efforts to fail, Avila is slowly starting to lose his shine. Can you imagine the uproar over AA and Illitch in Boston or New York where the teams are actually expected to win?

    Liked by 3 people

  3. The rebuild has obviously stalled based on the team’s W/L record but Ilitch is sold on the overall direction Avila has charted for the organization with the changes made in the last off season with the Minor League system and in Player Developmemt. Those changes understandably will take awhile to show tangleble results at the MLB level. No doubt more work needs to be done along with a change in philosophy and personell in the hitting department.

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  4. There is no hope for the immediate future since 2 who are incompetent are in charge of the team. What they’ve done to this team is almost criminal and borders on fraud.

    Liked by 4 people

  5. I think we’ve seen enough of Avila to know he’s not qualified for the job. His transactions are one long list of failure after failure. When there’s more excitement and confidence in town about the Lions and their new “rebuild”, you know you’ve reached a new low.

    Liked by 6 people

  7. Why do some mid market teams never tank and remain competitive? Example? The St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals “develop” players and maintain a culture of excellence. The team would never conceive of “tanking.” Al Avila’s time has passed. Send him out to pasture., please and promote Hinch to GM.

    Liked by 7 people

  8. Fire Avila, fire Avila is a chant heard and warranted on this blog but unfortunately it is an unrealistic hope of Tiger fans so I voted not sure. It appears Chris is going to stay the course with AA so our best posture might be to hold onto the good hires in analytics and PD and some early positive returns of recent draft success which lead our top prospects. Has AA been bad and a failure in leading a rebuild, absolutely, but this is now.

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